US frontman talks to the US Senate about how comedy could defeat Islamic State

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U2 frontman Bono spoke to the US Senate in Washington, DC yesterday (April 12), suggesting how comedy could be used to defeat Islamic State.

The rock musician and political activist was speaking to a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday as part of a discussion on the Middle East and the refugee crisis when he made the comments.

“It’s funny… don’t laugh, but I think comedy should be deployed,” Bono began. “The first people that Adolf Hitler threw out of Germany were the Dadaists and surrealists. It’s like, you speak violence, you speak their language. But you laugh at them when they are goose-stepping down the street and it takes away their power.”

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“So I am suggesting that the Senate send in Amy Schumer and Chris Rock and Sacha Baron Cohen, thank you,” he added, before telling a laughing audience that he was “actually being serious”.

“Actually, that’s not the first time I’ve heard experts on how do we counter violent extremism talk about that,” replied the Democratic senator for New Hampshire, Jeanne Shaheen. “It’s one of the things that we’re looking at”.